Los Angeles

[4001h]

I will be taking a two weeks vacation in Los angels area…what kind if interesting stuff can I do while I am there? Any idea of good deals on hotels?
My interest:
-Running (running trails)
-Hiking
-Aviation museums, both commercial and military
-Military stuff…. Where can I see the A-bomb?
-Beaches
-Strip bars
Etc

[Husky Dude]

Re: Los Angeles

Second prize: four weeks of vacation in LA.

[tafnut]

Re: Los Angeles

>I will be taking a two weeks vacation in Los angels area…what kind if
>interesting stuff can I do while I am there? Any idea of good deals on
>hotels?
My interest:
-Running
-Hiking
-Aviation museums,
-Military stuff&
Where can I see the>A-bomb?
-Beaches
-Strip bars
Etc

That 'etc' at the end is killing me. That is the most eclectic set of 'interests' I can imagine. I want to see eldrick extrapolate the slope of that line! A-bombs and strip bars. My mind is boggling.

[jhc68]

Re: Los Angeles

Spend a day in the downtown area. Walk past the Coliseum and visit the County Museum in Exposition Park next to the USC campus. Eat at steak and eggs at the Pantry, near the Staples center, or have a sandwich at Phillippe's near Union Station... either place is like dining in a time warp from the 1920's, you expect to see Laurel and Hardy at the next table. Walk around and check out the funky, cut rate stores in the garment district next to the California Mart. Just don't get lost or hang out after dark while you are downtown. At night, go hang out in the Melrose shopping area. Be sure to make careful gender identification of any new friends you make there.

[marknhj]

Re: Los Angeles

>I will be taking a two weeks vacation in Los angels area…what kind if
>interesting stuff can I do while I am there? Any idea of good deals on
>hotels?
My interest:
-Running (running trails)
-Hiking
-Aviation museums,
>both commercial and military
-Military stuff…. Where can I see the
>A-bomb?
-Beaches
-Strip bars
Etc


>>>

Search on expedia or travelocity for hotel deals.
The best beaches are Hermosa Beach and Manahattan Beach in the South Bay (my territory). Best chicks plus lack of parking keeps the riff raff out.
No idea about aviation museums or the A bomb but the Getty is a must and Norton Simon in Pasadena is very good. The La Brea Tar Pits are also quite interesting.
LA is surrounded by mountains with great hiking/running trails; the ones above Santa Monica are easily accessible. Or you could venture up the coast to Malibu Canyon (where they filmed MASH) or the Cleveland National Forest near Glendale. There are more trails above the Hollywood sign. You can go and see the weirdo's at Venice Beach, best to on the weekend. 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica has great shops, restaurants
and bars, as does Melrose. Actually went to a strip club for the first time in 10 years a few weeks ago (birthday treat, supposedly). The girls all had implants, no booze and a bottle of water cost $8 - don't recommend. I'd avoid Disneyland and Universal Studios, awful places unless you have kids. Best Brit Pub - Ye Olde Kings Head, Santa Monica. You can also go to Drake Stadium at UCLA and see the HSI guys working out (if they've resumed training), they start at 11am and you can see Mo, Inger and the gang almost everyday.

[gh]

Re: Los Angeles

<< Be sure to make careful gender
>identification of any new friends you make there.>>

This is your editor speaking: nouns have gender; people have sex.

[marknhj]

Re: Los Angeles

><< Be sure to make careful gender
>identification of any new friends you make
>there.>>

>>>

That is especially true in West Hollywood. There are some amazing TS/TV's hanging around!

[tafnut]

Re: Los Angeles

>>people have>sex.

new thread!

[JRM]

Re: Los Angeles

>-Aviation museums,
>both commercial and military
-Military stuff…. Where can I see the
>A-bomb?

If you go out to Palmdale (1h15min north), there's the Lockheed-Martin plant where they built the B-2 and F-117 stealth planes. Also, scattered throughout the basin are old Nike Missile defense posts, mostly decomissioned in the 60s. The Nike Missiles were nuclear-capable first-strike defenses (the original "missile shield"). There's still one near San Pedro that's mostly intact. Also, there's one under the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena (the buildings are still there, but it just looks like a military compound). The missiles and silos are, of course, long gone.

Museum-wise, there's the Burbank Aviation museum: http://www.godickson.com/bam1.htm

Also, Edwards AFB is near Palmdale, and has the USAF Flight Test Center museum: http://www.edwards.af.mil/museum

Finally, you could go a bit further north to Mojave, and see where SpaceShipOne made its historic flights last week: http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/

Maybe they offer "tours" of the ship?

As for the A-bombs, if your trip overlaps one of these dates, you can take a tour of the Nevada Test Site:

http://www.nv.doe.gov/community/calendar/default.htm

However, you'll have to go to Las Vegas in order to do so (not a bad thing, though). You have to be an American citizen and contact them at least four weeks ahead to get in.

[gh]

Re: Los Angeles

Everything you ever wanted to know about Nike (the missile, not the shoe)

http://ed-thelen.org/

I remember as an elementary school kid going to a Nike base deep in the mountains of Washington and getting to sit on one. Having built the plastic model, it was the say of my life.

It got better a few minutes later when a trio of F-102s (you-know-who's plane!) flew over at about 500ft and went supersonic on us.

[4001h]

Re: Los Angeles

Thanks guys

[Brian]

Re: Los Angeles

Sophisticated snob that I am, I recommend the ultimate tourist attraction: The Rocky and Bullwinkle statue outside the Dudley Do-Right Emporium.

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Shop2/DudleyDoRight.shtml


...or, the Museum of Bras, just up the street.

Whichever.

[gh]

Re: Los Angeles

Since you're a track guy, trying to get a tour of the Coliseum (even without a track!) should be high on your list, given its status as 2-time Olympic venue and once host to the most popular annual meet in the country.

Queen Mary not a bad visit. And if you're an aviation buff, where are they hiding the Spruce Goose these days, which used to be next door?

[JRM]

Re: Los Angeles

>And if you're an aviation buff, where are they hiding the Spruce
>Goose these days, which used to be next door?

Spruce Goose is now in its own building at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in DC, I believe. I'm not sure what's under the dome.

The Spruce Moose is in the Monty Burns Casino, and the Spruce Caboose is on its side in Springfield...

Also while in Long Beach, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a midly interesting adventure too.

[kuha]

Re: Los Angeles

The Goose is up in Oregon or Washington State, now, isn't it? I just saw something on the tube about it...